Axe, Part 1

Alright, I've just started a new blade project, and it's another first for me: an axe. All my previous experience lies in knives and my recent short sword, but I wanted to make a functional and appropriate gift for my father and he's not so much a knife person.

Anyway, I thought that a few pictures might help bring variation to this rather dry series of articles.

So here's the hammer I started with. You can make an axe from just straight ore, but the workshop doesn't have equipment capable of welding the eye of the axe together. This seemed simpler.

That black finish is a sort of plastic. I'm not personally sure why it's used on a lot of tools, but I'm sure that it would melt in the forge and clog up the works. I took an angle grinder to it first to remove it.

These next two photos are after an hour of hammering- this thing is 3-something pounds of solid steel. It takes a lot of effort to shift the material.

I don't have any photos of the forge itself this week, but I will next week when I get back to work. Thanks for reading!

For alternate workout options:
Skull Crushers (triceps)